An In-Depth Look At Video Games, GTA and more…
Grand Theft Auto is a proactive subversive game that allows the player to be the protagonist Trevor. In the 5thversion of the game, there were two additional protagonists, each having their own backstory, characteristics and abilities i.e. slow-motion to kill people easier. GTA allows the player to act freely in an open-world map, a dystopian overall state, where the character being played, is allowed to have their own home, garage, automobile, guns, wife and much more. The game grew popular in the gaming market for those who were interested in customizing their own vehicles, not having a main objective, but having side missions to help other characters get to their goals and desires. What really set apart GTA from any other automobile/fire-arm game were two main points. Firstly, it is set in a gangster neighborhood, with areas in the map that turned into upheaved regions as the game improved throughout the years, where you could meet “strangers and freaks” (as categorized by the game itself) and grow humorous bonds based on killing for pointless money. Secondly, it’s appealing and different due to the fact that the player’s character is on the “bad side” of the society, giving the gamer a unique outlook to a simulated dishonest lifestyle. However, that is exactly what makes GTA so controversial. Many people, including gamers, university professors and doctors, believe that playing in a dishonest and ethical breaching game might affect the gamer in numerous ways., and others practically demonize it for the obvious reason as to the character running through innocent civilians just to bomb their homes, cars, husbands/wives/dogs etc.; while adding chaos to real-life stereotypes such as discriminating minority groups: women, hookers, dark-skinned people and other ethnicities. On the other hand, many people find it humorous and distracting from the everyday life to play the character of a deranged psychopath killer. Gamers have spoken up in defense of the game, explaining how much work has been put into it. There are several strong suits in the game that are overlooked by some people that are worried about the ethics of the game, such as the music composition, the fact that the character is a real person who’s face and voice is used in the game who’s character was taken from a tv episode, or for the work on the map where landscapes are well thought of and crafted in way to make the game even more subversive by being able to drive on different roads, ride bots in the sea and lakes, or even fly airplanes and helicopters. Due to this controversy, multiple countries have banned it for different reasons such as: Australia/Saudi Arabia (the law prohibits games that promote illegal activities and sexism), Brazil/China/Germany/Greece/South Korea/ Mexico/U.S Military (the law prohibits violent gaming content with the glorification to criminal activities and lifestyles).
Games such as GTA5 raise ethical debates on numerous points: the relation between violent games and violent behavior, the relation between school shootings and violent games, the age to which rather violent games are aimed at and the responsibility of the parents in this matter as well, lastly, the relation between political influences and the stereotyping in these games.
Entertainment producers are here to entertain people of all ages with their products, they have ethical responsibilities towards the graphics of the content specifically to the younger audience (under 18). They mustn’t promote hate speech through individual hate acts, but are in fact protected by The First Amendment under The Right to Free Speech through computer games. It’s the “hate” towards minorities in GTA5 that is demonized but protected for the fact that it is not hate towards a real person, or a personified character; where the only personified character in the game is the protagonist. However, manufacturers do get a rating on the content on a scale between E and M. GTA did in fact get a rating of players allowed to buy the game only above 17 years old, which is M. GTA does involve interaction of the gamer with “off” topics such as: Obscenity, dehumanizing, racism, sexism, aiding the enemy and especially encouragement of illegal actions that have been enforced by “copying” and dramatizing dystopian ideas that exist in the real world, while glorifying being on the bad side.
Many people argue that game worlds are simulated environments with fictional elements and characters which are meant to be played by people who agree constraints that can’t be changed (Sicart. M. 2009), such as committing violent actions towards people. People who are correctly over 17/18 years of age are well capable enough to decide whether or not they want to engage in a dystopian ethical game where the player doubts the goals of their assignments (Sicart. M, 2009). A lot of people like to explore morals and actions in forbidden societies. Suddenly, game developers and producers are held accountable for unethical behavior done by people who have played their game, or similar games to GTA, who are not allowed to play the game in the first place. Parents do play the major role here, because it is only up to them to choose what the kid gets to play or not, parenthood is where ethical behavior and morality emerge from. So if game producers specifically design games for people over 18 years old, mature enough to decide whether they’d like to get involved in ethical questioning games for humor and entertainment strictly, then parents are the ones who should be held and are a accountable for “the games consequences on children’s violent behaviors”.
Games have developed to a point where gamers get emotionally attached and identify with the characters, not because they have to blindly obey gaming instructions and cannot control the way the story ends up, it’s because games have studied and developed their characters and society setting and environments so well for their target audience to make it as subversive as they can. On a side note, even television shows such as Black Mirror’s upcoming season of 2019, will be giving the option for the viewer to choose between two endings for each episode. That says something about giving the audience what they want, options not to obey by, rather pure entertainment. Moreover, Chris Ferguson of Texas A&M University claims that no study has been adequately conducted to show a conclusive link between gaming and violent behavior.
“ The ethical responsibilities of video game manufacturers will evolve, depending on what science shows and what political influences dictate” Mathews R., 2015.
On another note, we can take a look at how impressive video games have become through out the years. Many television series and scripts have been adapted into video games such as The Walking Dead. Video game users and movie enthusiasts have conjoined into a new market, sharing the same interests and wants from games and movies. Good game designers have reset gaming standards and rank near the best directors in the world. Many movie critiques consider some of the best directors such as Stanly Kubrick’s movies to be virtual realities in which the audience gets immersed, such as in Space Odyssey, Full Metal Jacket or A Clockwork Orange. Game designers follow the same ideal and have been successful at providing this to this audience. The only difference is, movies follow a wide set of interpretation whereas games seem to be more straight forward. Game designers work hard on the backstory and characteristics of the protagonists such as in GTA, The Walking Dead, Cyber Punk (yet to be released) and many more.
Banning games is not an effective way to answering to potential harms, when games have ethical backgrounds and proof, society should take a look at the other aspects that are harming children and making the more violent; such as abiding by the legal age limit guidelines (applied to games and movies), the language and topics spoken about in modern-age music such as modern rap and modern hip-hop, and the stereotypical ideologies that schools don’t teach kids about, it seems to be much easier to blame the gaming industry rather than the actual institutions at fault.
Mathews, R. (2015)Ethical Responsibility of Video Game Manufacturers. Demand Media.Hearst Newspapers, LLC.
Reynolds, R. (2002) Playing a “Good” Game: A Philosophical Approach to Understanding the Morality of Games: IGDA — Articles — Ethics.
Sicart, M. (2009) The Ethics of Computer Games.London, England.: The MIT Press Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Hmadeh, B.(2012) The Videogame Ethics Reader re-visited: Printed in the United States of America.
